Frozen Chosen
by T. Brewer
Summary: AU Season Six, Buffy didn’t die at the tower but Glory still got her butt kicked. Now there’s a new danger looming on the horizon, Buffy, Dawn, Willow, and Giles head to face it in the cold lands due north. Follow their adventures as they slay among t
1. Default Chapter

Title: The Frozen Chosen  
Author: T. Brewer  
Rating: PG for now  
Summary: AU Season Six, Buffy didn't die at the tower but Glory still got her butt kicked. Now there's a new danger looming on the horizon, Buffy, Dawn, Willow, and Giles head to face it in the cold lands due north. But wait, there's a face missing! (dum, dum, duuuuummmm!) Follow their adventures as they head up north to slay among the frozen chozen.  
A/N: I messed with the timeline a bit so that The Gift would have taken place August 15th rather then the traditional May 22nd.  
  
Chapter the First: In which the plot is outlined.  
The Magic Box was quiet, everything was quiet recently. The main room had only Buffy and Willow in it, Giles had put in a brief appearance to give Willow some stock to shelve before returning to his office to index an old Watcher's Diary. When Buffy looked around the silent room she smiled, days like these were far to rare, especially after the terror that had marked the rise and fall of Glorificus. Looking around again Buffy's smile fell, there were a few faces missing. Dawn was still in the hospital recovering from her doc inflicted injuries, Tara had fled the Hellmouth as soon has her mind was well enough to permit it, and Spike. Spike had disappeared almost as soon as the fight with Glory had finished. He had looked once into Buffy's eyes as she and Dawn hobbled down the tower and simply fled, no one had seen him since. It had been a week and still the look of failure and sorrow in his eyes haunted Buffy's thoughts almost more then Glory ever had.  
Lost in her thoughts Buffy didn't notice Giles walk out of his back office cleaning his glasses.  
"Buffy." A sad smile passed the watchers lips when the slayer nearly jumped out of her skin at his greeting.  
"Sorry Giles," the slayer said, "just thinking. About... Stuff. What did you need?"  
After a moment's consideration Giles decided to tell his slayer everything he had found.  
"Buffy," he began. "I found something in the diary I was indexing. A prophesy."  
Buffy sighed, in the past she would have fought her duty but now she simply asked him to continue.  
"Where the sun never sets, 'till cold falls,  
Where Hazelwood brought Bleigh's death,  
Shall, 128 days from the Beasts fall, rise  
The Devourer of Worlds."  
Willow looked up, "Hazelwood? As in Capitan Hazelwood? As in the Exxon Valdez?"  
Giles smiled, trust Willow not to miss a trick, "Yes Willow, the prophesy refers to Joe Hazelwood, Capitan of the tanker that ran aground on Bleigh's Reef, near Valdez, Alaska."  
Buffy blanched, "Please don't tell me that I'm going to Alaska, there's penguins there, and snow, and large enclaves of people brandishing shotguns."  
"No Buffy, I promise, no penguins."  
"That wasn't nice Giles, threatening me with cold weather."  
"Uh Buffy," Willow began, "Penguins live in the southern hemisphere, there wouldn't be any in Alaska, except maybe in zoos."  
"Oh," Buffy looked crestfallen, "damn." She muttered to her self for a few moments, Willow and Giles caught a few words about smart ass watchers and know it all red heads. With a look of defeat Buffy turned to her watcher, "When do we leave?"  
"Well Buffy," Giles began, "before we can go we need to decide who will stay and who will go with you."  
"Well me, obviously, and I'm not leaving Dawn behind, it'll do her some good to get away for awhile anyway. You should probably go, being my watcher and all. Willow, we'll need for magical support. Xander and Anya though. They'll probably want to stay here, and someone will need to keep an eye on the Hellmouth and the shop."  
Giles was glad his slayer was taking charge. She had been in such a state recently, having lost her mother and almost losing her sister over such a short period of time. "We'll start the trip as soon as Dawn is out of the hospital."  
"Let's hope she's out soon then" Willow said, "it's going to be a long drive."  
"Drive? Oh Wills, I hope this is another bad joke."  
"She's right Buffy, even combined we don't have the funds to fly up to Alaska on such short notice. Especially since we don't know when Dawn will be released."  
"Okay, okay, I get it," Buffy sighed. "So as soon as Dawnie's out of the hospital we start driving. But in what? We sold mom's SUV, and I don't think we'll all fit in your little red midlife crisis, Giles."  
Giles looked at Buffy like she had just insulted his honor rather then his car. "My car is more then just a salve for my midlife crisis."  
"My Mom has an Excursion!" Willow interrupted Giles indignant tirade before things got out of hand. "And I think if we ask her nicely she'll let us use it."  
"An Excursion?"  
"It's an SAV Giles"  
"SAV?"  
"Suburban Assault Vehicle, it seats eight people, plus enough stuff to drive them around the world like four times."  
"Ah, one of those behemoths that hog the road and drive smaller cars off the shoulder."  
"Yeah, one of those."  
"Well if we could use your mother's Excursion that would be ideal."  
"I'll talk to her tonight, I'm supposed to go over to my parents house for dinner anyway."  
Buffy looked to Willow in shock, the redhead had hardly seen her parents since her high school graduation. "When did this happen Wills?"  
"I didn't tell you?" Willow said, looking contrite, "I've been talking to my mom since Tara left and she invited me to dinner. I guess I just forgot to mention it."  
"You're forgiven this time Wills," Buffy told her best friend with a smirk,"I'm glad you're talking to your folks again."  
"Yeah, me too. It's just weird you know. After not talking to me for so long they want to see me again."  
Giles smiled at Willow, "They probably miss you as much as you miss them"  
"Either that or they're vampires and you aren't so much invited to dinner as invited to be dinner."  
Willow rolled her eyes. "Buffy, that's not funny."  
"Who's making funnies? I'm serious. We all know what the Hellmouth likes to do to Hallmark moments. Take a cross and stake or a Menorah and stake."  
"A cross would be sufficient, as long as the vampire in question recognizes the religious significance of the item they will react to it."  
"Guys! My parents aren't vampires! I saw my mom at Fred Meyers the other day! At noon!"  
"Was she in the meat section?"  
"Buffy!"  
"Sorry Wills, but this is the Hellmouth."  
"Yeah, yeah, I'll take a stake, but if I have to stake my parents I am not going to be a happy witch!"  
Giles looked up at the clock over the counter and began shooing the girls out of the shop. "Buffy, I will see you here at three-thirty tomorrow for training."  
"Yes sir mister watcher, sir." Buffy said with a mock salute.  
Giles rolled his eyes, "And Willow I hope you enjoy your family dinner, don't think to much on securing your mothers tank, if we can't use her vehicle we will simply find one somewhere else."  
Willow smiled at the watcher, "Thanks Giles, have a good evening."  
With their farewells said, Buffy and Willow left Giles to clean up the shop. 


	2. Chapter the Second

Chapter the Second: In which plans are set in motion and a vehicle is acquired.  
  
Buffy hated hospitals. They were sterile and unfriendly. Ever since her cousin, Celia, had died in a hospital she could barely even stand the overly clean smell. And now Dawnie was there too. After Buffy had brought her sister down from the tower Dawn had managed to walk all of five feet before collapsing back into Buffy's arms. In the week since Dawn had only awoken once. The doctors said that there had been no permanent brain damage, just a case of shock and a matter of time before Dawn was well enough to leave. Walking through the children's ward to Dawn's room Buffy was glad she was coming with better news then usual. Rather then having to tell the girl that her favorite vampire was still MIA, she could at least tell Dawn that they'd finally get to see the world outside of San Fernando Valley. If only she'd just wake up.  
Turning the corner, Buffy reached Dawn's room and saw her sister thrashing about on the small bed. Rushing to her sister's side, Buffy tried to hold Dawn down with out hurting her anymore. Without warning Dawn froze, her eyes shot open, and she let loose with a harrowing scream. The sound stopped as soon as it had begun, Buffy looked down at her sister's face, expecting to see her sleeping again. Instead her sister was looking back up at her.  
"Hey Buff, when can I go home?"  
Buffy spent another second just looking at her sister before she said "Right now," and smiled.  
***  
The ride back to 1630 Revello was peaceful. The doctors, having found nothing more wrong with Dawn, had released her with a stern warning to Buffy to bring the girl back should she show any signs of going back into shock. In the taxi, Buffy caught Dawn up on all the recent happenings. Dawn was understandably excited about getting out of the state of California for the first. She spent a few minutes hitting Buffy with a barrage of questions about the trip. After she had settled down, she began asking Buffy about how the rest of their merry band fared. Dawn was justifiably upset at hearing of Tara's departure. Buffy held her sister as she cried, asking why people had to keep leaving her behind. When Dawn had calmed back down Buffy told her about Xander and Anya's decision to get married and Willow's sadness at the loss of her girlfriend. Dawn's s response was to suggest a cookie baking session slash engagement party to cheer Willow up and celebrate Anya's big news. Buff smiled for a moment before she turned to Dawn again.  
"Dawn," she asked, "how much do you remember from after the fight?"  
"Not much," Dawn replied, "just coming down the tower and then everything gets really fuzzy. I know we won, but that's about it."  
Buffy tried to find a way to tell her sister about Spike, she finally decided to tell her straight out. "Dawn," she said, "Spike's gone. He took off after the fight, we don't know where he's gone or if he'll come back."  
"Kaktovik"  
"Bless You"  
Dawn laughed, "That's where Spike is. He told me he had to go see an old friend there. Said he'd come home if he could but it would be awhile. And he wants you to know that he's sorry."  
Buffy looked at her sister in shock, "for what?"  
"He said you'd know."  
"Oh." Buffy looked confused for a second. "Wait. What? When did you talk to Spike? He was gone as soon as we made it off the tower. Just looked at me and left."  
Dawn sat staring into space for a second, as if coming to a decision. She turned to her sister, "When I was. Asleep, he spoke to me. Kinda like in a dream, except that this was real. He told me that he'd always take care of me, just not right now 'cause he hat to take care of something else first." Dawn looked over at her sister; Buffy's face was caught in a look of surprise, then worry as she looked back at Dawn.  
"He's okay though, not dust?" She asked.  
"Yeah he's okay, insofar as Spike can be okay."  
"And he came to you in a dream?"  
"Yeah"  
"Wiggy."  
The sisters sat in silence as the taxi pulled up to their home. Just before Buffy unlocked the door she spun around to look at Dawn again.  
"Where's Kaktovik?"  
"I have no idea."  
***  
Willow laughed for the hundredth time that night. "So Professor Gerhardt's successor wouldn't even set foot in the Cultural Partnership Center?"  
Her mother nodded, "He said it was haunted, something about Incan mummies with the kiss of death and vengeful ghosts come to wreak havoc on their oppressors. He is a rather. unique man."  
"He sounds like it!" Willow said, smiling. Sitting back Willow listened to her parents talk about their work and their eclectic colleagues. She had already asked her mother about the Excursion, telling her that she was planning to spend the summer studying the like style in traditional native fish camps. Besides the keys, Willow's mother had given her some books on life in rural Alaska. Willow was thankful for the books, glad that she'd have something to read whilst Buffy went and played the strapping hero.  
"Willow!"  
Willow looked startled for a second and produced the eloquent, "Huh?"  
Her mother repeated herself, "I asked who you were planning on taking along that you needed my Excursion instead of your fathers Accord."  
"Well Buffy was going to come, she's never been outside of the state before, and she's bringing Dawn along to help her get over their mother's death. And our old school librarian was the one to actually set it up, so he was going to come along as well."  
"Giles. Wasn't he a friend of the late Mrs. Summers?" Willow's father asked.  
"Yes, dear," Her mother answered, "a very good friend of Joyce's."  
Willow rolled her eyes at her parents' behavior.  
Her mother turned to her again, "Buffy and Dusk are going as well?"  
"Dawn mom, Buffy's sister is named Dawn."  
"I thought Dusk was a rather odd name. But both girls are going? I didn't know Buffy was such a scholar."  
"Actually," Willow said, "Buffy and Dawn are just going for vacation. Buffy thought it would be good for Dawn to just get away for a while; Dawn's actually going to be attending a High School while we're there. Buffy just wants to give Dawn a chance to grieve without everyone bothering her."  
Willow's mother smiled. "Well that sounds wonderful. I hope both girls get a chance to work things out."  
Willow smiled at her mother, and laughed as her father went back to telling stories about his college days in AX?. 


	3. Chapter the Third

Chapter the third: In which our intrepid adventurers begin their voyage.  
A week later the trip was planned and Buffy, Dawn, Giles, and Willow were packed into the massive Excursion and waving good bye. Anya, being Anya requested that they bring her back a sufficient amount of gold to compensate her for the loss of free labour. Xander simply said to leave the Hellmouth to him; it wouldn't know what hit it. Dawn told him that she didn't think that the Hellmouth would respond to girlish screaming. The group had left town to the sound of Xander's indignant sputtering.  
  
Now, as the small party tolled out of town, Giles looked back at the girls he'd be living with for the next five months. Willow was sitting in the navigator's seat; she was already engrossed in one of the books her mother had given her. Buffy was already asleep in the middle row having stayed awake for all of five minutes, just long enough to get on the interstate. Dawn had already set up fortifications in the backseat, headphones on, game boy out and her camera out to take advantage of any scenic views. Giles turned his eyes back to the road and drove on.  
  
***  
  
The drive from Sunneydale to the ferry terminal in Bellingham, Washington had grated everyone down to their last nerve. Dawn half expected the usually calm Giles to drive the Excursion off the road. Willow had stopped talking to Buffy after they had shared a bed in a motel in Oregon. And Buffy looked like she could slay the next vampire she saw one handed. Dawn hadn't ever known Buffy to go more then a few nights without slaying, and the lack of exercise was obviously taking their toll on the slayer, making her stir crazy and a little more then a bit edgy.  
  
Kind of like someone else she could think of. Dawn knew Spike couldn't go even a single night with out a fight. She wondered what he was doing now, if he was still traveling to his friend in Kaktovik. What kind of town was named Kaktovik anyway; it sounded more like a sneeze then a town name. Maybe it was somewhere in Kazakhstan or one of those other places from the old USSR. And how was the vampire getting blood? Dawn had seen Doc throw Spike from the tower so she knew he was wounded, meaning he'd need more blood then average. She hoped he was okay, well she knew he was okay in the strictest sense, but undead didn't always mean alive and kicking when it came to Spike.  
  
Dawn focused her mind back on the road. Bellingham was a pretty town; it was kind of like Sunneydale, except for the whole Washington-green aspect. That and Giles hadn't mentioned anything about a Hellmouth, but that didn't mean anything, Sunneydale could be deceptively normal at times. Signs for the local university emblazoned local storefronts and the populous went about their business as if unaware that the worlds saviors were driving through town in a forest green Excursion. To be fair, they probably didn't know the massive SUV carried the people's champion against the darkness, her watcher, a powerful witch and a maybe inter-dimensional key. But would it kill them to put out banners or something once in a while, just in case? No  
  
acknowledgement, guess this was the price one paid for running with the Slayer. Dawn giggled 'price you paid', her inner dialogue was starting to sound like the script to a very bad B movie.  
  
"What the funny, Dawn?"  
Dawn looked at her sister, "just something I thought of."  
"Oh." Buffy turned back to the book about Anchorage she had picked up at a local book store.  
  
Dawn looked back out the window for a moment before turning back to her sister. "Buffy," she asked, "do you think he's okay?"  
  
Buffy kept looking down at her book, Dawn wasn't sure her sister had heard her until Buffy finally spoke up.  
  
"I don't know Dawn, you're the one with the crazy brain link, shouldn't I be asking you the same question?"  
  
"I only know he's alive, but you've known him longer. I thought you'd know how he was thinking or something."  
  
Buffy sat in silence for a moment before answering, "He feels guilty, I think." Dawn looked to her sister in surprise. "He promised he'd protect you till the end of the world, 'even if that happens to be tonight' he said. And then he got thrown from the tower and Doc almost opened the portal. He thinks it's his fault that you got hurt."  
  
"But he did the best he could!" Dawn argued, "Especially after Glory's patented meat grinder."  
  
Buffy nodded, "I know that," she said, "and you know that, hell, even Spike knows it in some form. But he still blames himself."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"And that, Regis, is the million dollar question. 'Cause Spike is pure vampire, not a soul on him, and without a soul he shouldn't feel guilt or remorse, but he does."  
  
"That confused Doc too. He said he didn't know why Spike cared, he didn't smell a soul on him, but Spike said he'd made a 'promise to a lady'."  
  
"Me."  
  
"Yeah, you" "It's almost scary," Buffy said after a moment, "how much he was willing to do for you, me, mom. Even Angel never much cared about you and mom, and except for the whole Angelus incident he came down pretty firmly on the side of 'good guy'."  
  
Dawn smiled, "leave it to Spike to defy explanation!"  
  
"Yeah," Buffy sighed, "leave it to Spike."  
***  
The Excursion drove around Bellingham for a while before reaching the ferry terminal. Giles went to confirm their reservation while the three girls stood staring at the Cascade Mountains.  
  
"Wow" Buffy said looking at the bright green mountains.  
  
"We do have mountains back home, Buffy," Dawn said.  
"Yeah," Willow answered her, "but they're never this green."  
  
"Yeah," Buffy said, her eyes still glazed.  
  
Willow and Dawn smiled at the slayer, Buffy was usually only interested in the slaying aspects of nature; what stained, what didn't. Willow couldn't wait until they got to Alaska and Buffy saw the mountains there.  
  
Giles walked back over to where the girls were standing with four tickets in hand.  
  
"The boat won't be very full," he told them, "so the woman at the ticket office was kind enough to allow me to change our bookings. Now, rather then a four person bunk, we have a four person suite, someone will have to either sleep on the couch or share a bed, but we will have our privacy back."  
  
All three girls were smiling by the time he was done.  
  
"Privacy," Willow joked, "what's that?"  
  
The travelers loaded back into the Excursion and drove up the ramp and into the ferry, waiving Washington one last goodbye. 


	4. Chapter the Fourth

Chapter the Fourth: In which the travelers reach Alaska at last.  
Giles, Buffy, Willow, and Dawn had on the Columbia for two days. The weather had been choppy for a time but had settled down. Dawn sat, the patient pupil at the masters feet, as Giles told her the Greek myth of Halcyon, king of the winds, and why calm weather was named for him. Giles had loved playing the part of the wise imparter of wisdom, and Dawn for her part soaked it up. Buffy was glad to see her sister smiling again, after their mother's death things had been rough, but now that they were away from things inundated with memories of Joyce. Well sorta better, better in the emotional sense, but in the 'I'm-bored-bored-bored' sense? Not so much. In a slow week in Sunneydale she would have dusted thirty to forty vamps, not to mention what ever tragic ugly the Hellmouth decided to send her way. This week she'd slayed a pancake. It was an evil pancake, to be sure, but the fight had been over far too soon, and the looks she'd gotten from her friends, not to mention the rest of the IHOP, had been a little off- putting. Buffy needed a good fight before she got back in the car, or things were not going to be pretty.  
***  
It was the night before the Columbia docked in Haines and Buffy was restlessly pacing the decks. She'd had an odd feeling ever since they'd stopped for passengers in Ketchikan, and she hoped it meant vampires. Ketchikan had been pretty enough, or what she could see of it through the torrential rain. It had rained or fogged nearly the whole trip up the inside passage, Giles had said something about the weather reminding him of the fine days of his youth back in Mother England. Dawn had asked for his definition of fine, because the weather sure looked like crap to her.  
Ooh! Tingles! Buffy thought as her slayer sense went off. What had that been about vampires on board? Buffy rounded the corner and ran smack into three vampires crouched around a dead woman. In her head she named them, the small ugly one was Lackey, the medium Discothèque reject was Boy George, and large and in charge was. well she'd think of a name in a minute. "Hey guys!" She said drawing up even with them, "she okay?"  
The vampires turned to her, they looked a little surprised by her intrusion.  
"She's fine," Boy George said, "just narcoleptic, she'll wake up soon. We were just headed down to the game room, wanna come along?"  
Buffy rolled her eyes, yes Mr. Wolf, she thought, I'll follow you into the woods. "Why don't we just stay here and wait for tour friend to wake up."  
"Hey, Stan," (Ah, so nameless' got a name!) Boy George said, "I sure am hungry."  
Buffy hoped all vampires she met on this trip weren't this dumb. "Yeah, I'm kinda hungry too," Buffy said, playing along.  
Lackey laughed, "yeah, see Stan, the lady could use a bite."  
Buffy finally looked at Stan. He looked ready to pop. "Yeah Stan," Buffy said, stretching her neck, "I could use a bite."  
Buffy heard the familiar crunching of bones behind her before the Boy George spoke again, "and bite you'll get!"  
Buffy smiled turning around to face the now full vamped moron behind her. "Awww. And here I thought we'd be best friends."  
The vampire snarled at her, "quake in fear, little girl, this is the end for you."  
Buffy just smiled wider, "the vampires back home are never this over dramatic," she said, staking Lackey as he tried to sneak up behind her. "They just say 'Slayer' and then they're dust."  
Boy George lunged at her, "Prepare to die!"  
Buffy rolled her eyes and dodged a sloppy blow. "You got it wrong," she said in her best teacher voice, "It's 'Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.'" And then he was gone. "Poof!" Buffy said, turning to face Stan.  
Growling, Stan lunged, Buffy dodged him easily, but after a few minutes of fighting it was obvious that Stan was a better fighter then his two friends. But, she was the slayer, she'd fought some of the strongest demons on the face of the earth and lived to tell the tale.  
"Well Stan-man," Buffy said driving the large vampire back toward the deck rail, "I'd say it's been fun, but." She went in for the kill, but Stan stepped back, tripped, and fell over the rail and into the inky water. Buffy stood at the edge and watched him bob along in the wake of the big ship. "Vampire over board."  
***  
The last leg of the trip was calmer. Giles told Buffy off for picking a fight onboard the boat, worried about what could have happened if Buffy had been the one to fall instead of Stan. Buffy just rolled her eyes and pointed out that she hadn't fallen. Dawn and Willow were both rather glad Buffy had gotten a chance to slay, it made her more personable. Actually it made her act like a person, period. Which was good for all concerned.  
The drive from Haines to Anchorage amazed the girls. Having been raised in one of the more densely populated states, none of them were prepared for the swaths of nothing between the ferry terminus and the big city. Even Giles, who had grown up in one of the quieter parts of Britain had to admit that the lack of human habitation was disquieting. Small towns dotted the route, but the travelers spent most of the last bit of their journey surrounded only by the grandeur of the Alaskan Wilderness. 


End file.
